The NBA Board of Governors unanimously has approved the Pistons' move to Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit.

Approval of the move, which came late Wednesday, was expected. The NBA’s advisory and finance committee sent a memo to the Board of Governors last week, recommending a ‘yes’ vote from the league’s other 29 teams.

It was the final step following the league’s annual Board of Governor’s meeting last month when the committee received the lease and joint entertainment venture agreements between the Pistons and Olympia Entertainment at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

A simple majority of the 30 owners who make up the board was required. The team now will continue its preparations to move into Little Caesars Arena in time for the early Oct. 4 exhibition season home opener. The home opener comes later in October.

“I think for me, I keep it simple,” Pistons point guard Ish Smith said last week when asked his excitement level. “I think for the fans, that’s what I’m more excited for. Everybody’s really, really excited about us coming downtown. This is a crazy buzz. We got to do our job and give 110%.”

The move is a result of more than a year of negotiations between Pistons owner Tom Gores’ Palace Sports & Entertainment and the Ilitch family’s Olympia Entertainment organizations.

The two sides announced in November they had reached agreement to bring the Pistons to the new Little Caesars Arena, which is in the final stages of construction. But it took extensive follow-up work to fully document terms of the agreement in advance of signing.

The lease agreement includes NBA-mandated modifications to the arena, which were necessary for league approval.

Detroit mayor Mike Duggan, at the news conference announcing the Pistons’ move in November, said he would ask the Downtown Development Authority and the Detroit City Council to spend $34.5 million to cover those modifications by expanding the public bond offering used to finance construction of the arena.

In addition to the lease agreement, Palace Sports & Entertainment and Olympia Entertainment have reached agreement on a joint venture combining their entertainment businesses.

That joint venture, whose business name has not yet been announced, will control all concerts and entertainment at the two organizations’ venues, including Little Caesars Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills, DTE Energy Music Theatre and the Fox Theatre, among others.